Into The Darkness
by Rhienne
Summary: What if it wasn't really 'happily ever after?
1. Into The Darkness

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Hello! Just thought I'd give writing a fanfic about Gundam SEED a shot. I want to continue this story, but if I don't have time, it can remain an oneshot. =) Takes place after SEED. **Spoilers.** Please review.

Disclaimer: Gundam SEED does not belong to me, nor do the characters. It belongs to Sunrise, Bandai, and other companies…

          **Into the Darkness**

          In the distance… faint visions of chaste beauty drifts gracefully like a sinuous stream of splendor, drowning the room in blissful harmony sung soothingly by a serenading piano; caressing the wooden keys in a softly fading descendo before crashing savagely into a melancholy song, sure to slice at your heart with a bitter silver blade, twisting it to emotions unknown to his senses, finally manifesting itself within his bloodstream filled with raw ice.

            Just for a day, an hour even, he wished he could let go of everything in his life and breathe in the mint air that he fervently dreamt of. Alone, in a cold dark room where no thoughts or commotions bothered him, that was truly pure bliss. He would be able to sleep, sleep for an eternity just so that he can be away from things that weaken him and make his soul bleed continuously, in which those things just merely callously disregard his cries of mercy. But reality was cruel and slapped him hard with its hand along with freshly sharp manicured nails, scratching his picturesque fantasy away until his eyes snapped open and he bumped his head on the open cabinet door.

            He heaved out a sigh and blinked repeatedly when his reverie shattered into a blurred setting. It took him confusing moments to collect himself, for his vision was wavering, upsetting his mind with lightheadedness until his eyes adjusted to the dim lights of the room and his head stopped swaying to and fro. 

            With his chest mildly rising and falling, he observed the genuine surroundings. He found it rather unventilated. His whole body was damp and his russet hair was wavy and clung to his pallid, moist face. The room was like a boiling sauna, it was humidly sweltering with transparent vapor floating to the top of the tiled washroom, and then settling itself into the air. His body was scorching, and tingled as his sense of touch came surging back to him in an unpleasant way, the steamy heat enveloping his sense of feel. 

            Mentally unaffected by the clammy ambiance, he turned to the medicinal cabinet behind the bathroom mirror and gently slapped it shut. Then, for the first time he noticed the hot water gushing out of the rusty faucet beneath him, its foggy mist had shrouded the surface of the mirror, so he was unable to see his reflection— not that he really cared about it. 

            He inhaled another breath, and finally, his hearing kicked in and he heard a soft rattling noise coming from his right hand, and a loud knock on the door to his side. He looked at his hand that was gripping on tightly to a miniature bottle of unmarked blue pills. They were jiggling hectically about in the little container because his entire arm was uncontrollably trembling for reasons unknown to him. Unscrewing the lid, he popped down two pills and tossed his head back to swallow, then, faltering a bit, he hastily opened back the cabinet door and placed the bottle on a shelf and shut it again. 

            To his utter surprise, a sob escaped from the confines of his throat, pushing the pills back up his throat and caused him to throw them up into the sink while clutching his neck. He breathed heavily as beads of sweat rolled down his moistened face. Brushing his bangs back with his hand, he inhaled shallow breaths and rested his forehead against the bathroom mirror. Groaning softly with dreariness, he then collapsed to his knees, knocking down a few bathroom items on his way down.

            A blue razor fell to his side and his eyes quickly traveled towards it and he stared at the object drearily with impulsive ominous thoughts flooding through his mind. Observing it, a crooked smile curled and formed on his lips. How small it was, yet there were two sharp miniature blades attached to it... ready to cut… 

            Without a thought, the brown-haired boy hastily reached out his shaky hand towards the razor, hovering it above the object for seconds contemplating his sudden thought, then finally grasping onto it.

            He had nothing to live for anymore. Surely someone who has been through as much pain as he had couldn't look forward to a brighter future, when his or her soul is completely traumatized and haunted by horrific images from the battlefield.

            Another bang at the door; he jumped, and at last, his attention immediately diverted to the door. 

            "Open up!" Someone shrieked from the outside, and yet, the person did not cease their banging, and evidently didn't hear the brunette irritably reply, 'Go away'.

            Kira breathed in once more, and sighed, his breath wavering with confined emotions, dancing around in the pit of his stomach. He felt sick. Backing himself further away from the door, he sat down in the very corner of the bathtub and curled up into a ball and rolled his head back to rest upon the smooth wet wall. He sighed again, his grip on the razor tightening. 

            "Kira," the voice was beginning to sound anxious, "answer me!"

            He closed his eyes, tightly squinting them until his head felt faint with a nauseating rush of extra blood to his head. He wanted to get back to that undisturbed austere atmosphere, where it was cold, so cold…

            "Hey-!"

            "Leave me alone." He muttered loudly, and the person stopped the violent pounding, slightly taken aback by his sudden response.

            Ssigh was silent, quite unsure of what to say to his remote friend. "Are-are you okay?" He queried, worry etched into his question. 

            No answer. "Kira, I'm coming in." He informed and grabbed onto the doorknob, which was oddly warm to his surprise but he overlooked it and twisted it to the side, only to find it immediately halt. He then resumed his assault on the wooden bathroom door, yelling at the occupant inside. The door was locked.

            "Kira, open up!" Ssigh hollered, "You can't miss the memorial ceremony!"

            Time stopped. And the first thing that came to mind was the memory of the burgundy haired girl and her compassionate words lingered, they were soft, but oddly, this time they were screaming in his mind. He choked on another sob that abruptly traveled up his throat and made him cringe from the unpleasant feeling. Then he felt it. Tears. Rolling down his cheeks now rosy from the heat. He tried to wipe them away with his arm but the onslaught of salty liquid drops ceased to end.

            Now he remembered it. She was so close… Hope were in those pale blue eyes, and a smile, just for him… but his bliss in seeing her safe and sound was abruptly shattered and she disappeared from him forever…

            A pain suddenly stung his head. And his hand, on impulse, came up and slapped his forehead; covering the wound, which had opened again and seeped through the white bandages wrapped around his head. The wound in which came from several attempts to take his very own life…

            "It hurts…" He whimpered; small tears escaping from his firmly shut eyelids.

            "Kira!" Ssigh's scream was loud and booming in his ears now. It echoed through his thoughts, and strangely it had changed to a different voice… The voice of Fllay etched with worry. He remembered, remembered the horrific scene in which she was killed and departed in a glorious blast, and that was when his heart had closed up as well.

            "I'm sorry… I couldn't protect you…" Kira murmured, and silently wept. Propped on his elbows and knees, his fist repeatedly slammed against the tiled floor, wishing miserably that the floor were none other than himself. His sobs developed into even more rickety and loud cries, as sorrow continued eating out what remained of his heart. 

            "I'm… sorry…" He whispered, and then finally collapsed onto his stomach while a silver ring quietly rolled out of his shirt pocket and danced circles before falling with a quiet trill. His violet eyes widened and his mouth opened slightly in surprised remembrance. He let go of the razor and his arm slowly reached out to retrieve the ring. 

            Maybe… maybe there _is_ something to live for, or rather, _someone_.

            As his final ounce of strength left him, his hand collapsed lifelessly on the ring, and at last, his mind finally drifted off into that wondrously peaceful slumber once more.


	2. Through Time

**

* * *

**

Through Time  
  
  
  
He stared out the window into the blanket of darkness that is night, or rather, early morning.

_ Black, empty, death._  
  
Those were the first three words that came to his mind and he felt his whole body stiffened at the thought of it. Imaginary, long forgotten, pain freshly emerged from its' periodic slumber and menacingly came surging back to him, hollering in a deafening scream that pierced through his mind, demanding he remember.   
  
And he did. How could he forget?  
  
He remembered their faces full of emotion, their words that held so much meaning no matter how ironic it appeared to be, and their undeniable passion for the art that is an unforgivable sin; the practice of the damned. To those nomad lost souls who needed a value to live for, they were vulnerably swallowed by the darkness in which the Devil would then lead them forth through a glorified field of blinded pride and naiveity.   
  
Where the light can not reach them. And they were gone.  
  
"Looking at the stars from this perspective is so much different from that of on a ship or a mobile suit." he remarked, his eyes following a plane's blinking lights until it was out of his eye's view of vision in that vast sea of darkness.  
  
Amber eyes watched the young man across the room with a puzzled look and she stared at his calm, serene, demeanor quizzically.  
  
"Something wrong Athrun?" she queried with a gentle voice. He didn't answer.  
  
Cagalli's lips formed a tight line and she stood up from his bed and seated herself next to the blue-haired boy, blocking his line of vision of the neverending sky and shoving her face right in front of his. She leered deeply into his eyes of forest green. "What's wrong?" she asked again, a bit worried, a bit frustrated.  
  
Athrun blinked and stared at her with an emotionless facade, then shifted in his seat and moved back a few inches with a soft sigh. "It's nothing. I'm just... tired."  
  
Cagalli frowned and bit on her bottom lip to thwart away her brimming anger, and she decided not to question him. She did feel somewhat hurt by his secretive self lately. No, it annoyed her to say the least. It annoyed and aggravated her, she wanted to slap him back to his senses so that he can stop silently sulking around so much. She couldn't though. Who can blame her for being worried? She didn't want to think that it was because of anything negative, but her mind would always jump onto those assumption and arrogantly, it clung to them while flashing a bright green color. She would scold herself then for doubting him, for ever thinking of doubting him. But there was always thing feeling...  
  
Warm arms encircled her and gathered her to a warm body where her head rested on a shoulder. She snapped out of her stormy thoughts to look up and see his smiling face beaming down at her pleasantly. She felt chills and tingles travel through her like little excited ripples, and she couldn't help smiling back, albeit hesistantly. She had come to the conclusion that his smile was dangeriously contagious, and she hated it-- or so she thought.  
  
Athrun looked at the young woman in his arms with a thoughtful, kind grin. A soft, heavy weight of a feeling arised from within him, and he didn't know what it was. Until from the moment he saw her smile, every tribulation that haunted his thoughts had vanished and were buried once more in the void of bitter memories he couldn't help keeping.   
  
His eyes traveled to the sky again. The sun was rising.  
  
The dawn reminded him of her. The one who brought forth the light to a furious darkness and banished it back to its' immoral realm of ominous obscurity. The powerful light. The fragile light. He wanted to keep it forever. He wanted to keep her forever. But...  
  
"We better get going, or else we'll miss the ceremony." Cagalli spoke up and moved out of his embrace.  
  
He nodded, his gaze never left the soft colored sky, painted with warm luminous colors. Nature's great masterpiece. The rebirth of the day.   
  
"Get dressed Athrun." he heard her say, he turned his head to see the golden-haired girl walk out of his cluttered room of dicarded pieces and parts of machines and miniature robots. And that heavy feeling returned. He was confused again.  
  
"Cagalli..." The murmur barely escaped his lips.  
  
But she didn't hear him, she was gone.

* * *

The feeling is like being compared to a helpless panicking insect glued to a spider's web, paralyzed by poison, then wrapped and suffocated by its' sticky silk, finally being mercilessly devoured agonizingly slowly by the hungry predator, sinking venomous fangs into the victim's flesh. Although, you can not compare her to an insect, but a divine rose trapped in a securely strong hold, intertwined within snake-like binding vines that will never let go, until someone comes along and slashes off its stem, thus ending the life of the rose, for it is beautiful no more.  
  
"Stay still Lacus-sama." Someone commanded and cupped her face and forcefully turned her to the direction of the voice's owner before she could utter an objection.  
  
They offended her. They invaded her personal space. She felt entirely disgusted. She felt ashamed. They cruelly stripped her of her freedom and she was indeed fully aware how idiotically ironic it was for her. Laugh at her if you wish, because now, she felt so weak and feeble. Hopeless, she wanted to break.  
  
They tilted her face up, and told her to close her eyes and open out her mouth widely, and she felt something being pressed against her lips. The air was stuffy, she could feel the teasing of their breaths caressing her cheeks and trailing near her ears. She couldn't breath. They touched her, pulled on her hair, played with her fingers, rubbed her face and neck with thick wet liquid.  
  
She felt violated and disturbingly uncomfortable, like she was being played with, like an used doll.  
  
When they were finished with her, they stared at her with satisfied and very pleased expressions and smirks, as if they were victorious.   
  
She was indeed a doll through their eyes. But through her own pale blue ones, she was a broken puppet.  
  
"Mirror Mirror on the wall... I am not who I am at all..." The pink-haired young woman sorrowfully thought as she observed herself through a large mirror.   
  
She was covered with a thick colorful mask that she felt like she was safe under, for no one could read the real expression on her face unless they drowned their souls through her eyes, and there, they will painfully learn the dreaded truth. Her hands slowly reached up to her face and lingered there, her vibrant blue eyes gleaming yet dull. Different arranges of the hues of brown painted her eyes as her lips were glossed over with a pink-beige color, and her cheeks, flushed with a rosy pastel blush. It was not her at all.  
  
She felt, fake. ... Ugly.  
  
"You look beautiful Lacus-sama." One of them gushed, contradicting the songstress's thoughts. She merely only acknowledged that by nodding and smiling faintly while staring at her wretched reflection, almost mesmerized and stunned, yet also deeply loathing the lovely image of the young beautiful woman.  
  
It was just a mask.  
  
And they have successfully tainted her. Plucking the petals of a rose until only the thorns remained.  
  
"It's time for your performance Lacus-sama."  
  
...Just a toy. A dieing rose.

* * *

**Author's Notes:** Mmmm.... I don't know where I'm going with this story, but I have an idea. Sorry the chapters are so short. The part about Lacus, I was trying to make an illusionary feeling, as if she was being raped, but she really wasn't, they were just putting makeup on her and I made it so that Lacus really disliked it because it was not who she was. Through her eyes, they've molded her into a stranger and put words in her mouth, and later if I have enough time to continue this story, you'll know the reason why. The relationship between Athrun and Cagalli is somewhat of an awkward one to me, since I don't really understand it at all, and because I'm a supporter of Athrun x Lacus, so you'd see me juggle around couplings. 


	3. Confusion

> ** Confusion  
**  
He could hear it.  
  
It was a soft and beautifully haunting melody that seeped through the thick walls, surrounding him with waves of resounding echos flowing down the rectangular hollow hallway. He instantly recognized of whom the quivering cry belonged to; for it was none other than a sinful siren graced with a blessed voice touched by a goddess. He was a defenseless aspirer who was inticed by her alluring voice, her dangerously manipulative song; and she continued to sing such a bittersweet ballad, unknown that she had sung through the untimely demise of all that heard it. And here he is... drawing closer... and oh, he wished it was so that it was death's awaiting doorway he was venturing forth to. But it was sadly not.  
  
He closed his eyes while slowly inhaling and held his breath, shutting off all of his other senses except for the single function of his ears where it took in her voice and he listened to it contently. Bliss. He was willingly thrown back into the empty darkness where his sanity delightfully escaped to. The coldness... the bitter bite of frigid frost...  
  
Plummeting, plunging to those murky depths of an arctic void. Lost in the words in which she expertly presented, portraying her sadness, her sorrow, and her isolated lonliness.  
  
He couldn't breath; everything was stuffy. He was gasping desperately for breath, swimming towards the luminous light at the top that flickered and gently rocked him into a menacing tranquil slumber.   
  
He let out a long shuddering sigh, clutching onto the miniature item in his palm and slipped it into his pocket before he reluctantly collected himself. Trembling, he stepped forward and the large double doors promptly parted, and like a crashing wave, her song engulfed him as if he was chained helplessly on a cliff, unable to fend it off.   
  
"Lacus..." He said, whilst gradually drinking in the sight of the foudroyant songstress and the movement of her lips, the glimmer of her gleaming orbs of sapphire.  
  
He leaned against the back wall; out of sight, and silently watched her. She was adorned in a glittering navy blue dress, with glowing diamond studded gloves clothing her arms that traveled to her elbows, a diamond necklace wound around her neck several times, also hanging from her ears were sparkling white chandellier earings, and finally, a crystal hairclip that held back wisps and strands of her pink hair that brightened up her features. He observed the graceful movements of her lithe body, the bold way she carried herself with an air of elegance and innocence he knew only she alone could execute. Gazing at her like this and just the purity of her chaste self made himself want to cower deeper into the shadows, ashamed. He wouldn't be surprised if people were stupefied to learn that she had daringly advanced into the ghastly battlefield. She was far too... ingenious.  
  
A chorus of clapping hands and lively chatter penetrated through his thoughts and his mind sharply reverted back to reality. He disliked the noise greatly. It disturbed him and distracted him. He wanted to go home, yet he stubbornly stayed anyway, because he wanted to see her, and now, she had suddenly vanished from the platform and he was frantically searching for her over the sea of buzzing heads, and evidently he came to believe that she had drowned herself in the crowd.  
  
He tilted his head back and rested it upon the wall. He tiredly groaned as the host of the enormous event came up to stage admirably praising the PLANT princess, therefore gathering an encore of more applauses from the exhilarated audience.  
  
"Kira!" someone called him, loud enough so that he can hear the low balmy feminine voice over the mixture of conversations flooding the whole building. He lifted his head and his gaze met two all too familiar figures approaching his way; Cagalli and Athrun.  
  
He wasn't too sure he was ready to see them again. But there they were, walking towards him, ... back into his life. Ready to pull him out of the water.  
  
It wasn't too long until the fair-haired girl broke into a run and practically tackled the young man and held him firmly in an embrace; her arms wrapped around his neck and her head rested upon his chest. She always experienced a rush of happiness whenever she had a chance to see him ever since the 'end' of the war, and now that her other half had reunited with her, she felt entirely complete with him. He who was her companion through birth only to be later separated, her twin.   
  
Taken aback by slight surprise, Kira was still for a moment before returning the hug in the form of a tight squeeze. He smiled pleasantly and fondly stroked the short strands of her yellow hair while gazing down at her intently. "Ah, Cagalli, how are you?" he said, in a faint voice.  
  
Cagalli heard him, but didn't respond to him. Instead, after a prolonged stillness, she slowly untangled herself from him, her eyes narrowed into tiny slits, her cheeks flushed with hues of light red, and her lips tightly pursed, she promptly brought the palm of her hand to meet his right cheek. Happiness had apparently vanished.   
  
"Where have you been?!" She hysterically questioned him. Her eyes now ignited with worried anger that was brimming inside her from the moment her amber eyes spotted him.  
  
The brunette stared at her. He was seemingly very oblivious to her abrupt change in attitude, but he had to admit, he didn't expect less from her. But watching her like this, he was overcome with a long forgotten emotion he had not expressed in a long time, and somehow it managed to sprout back into his life and finally manifest itself above his troublesome tribulations, shrouding them all in the mist of a thick fog. It had been indeed too long.   
  
He laughed.  
  
"I was so worried you idiot! And I had no way to contact you and-"   
  
A low chuckle escaped from him, his features displayed a genuinely sincere face, he reached out and grabbed her, pulling the orb hierress into a great bear hug, his joy laughing into her hair.  
  
Puzzled and surprised, Cagalli was blushing like a beet root and her miniscule squeak was muffled up against his chest. Bemused, she tried to pry herself from his strong hold of her waist for fear of causing an unwanted scene, but she decided not to and succumbed to her fate. She was extremely happy, because this was the first time... she heard him laugh. And to be the source of his laughter, was more than enough.  
  
"Kira... I..."  
  
"My, my, Kira, what have you done to Cagalli to make her blush like a tomato!" Athrun exclaimed, grinning widely as he finally reached the two siblings.   
  
He found the whole scene quite amusing, especially since the tomboyish young woman was adorably flustered and rendered speechless, sputtering incoherent sentences at her older brother. Even though the brown-haired boy didn't know it, or he chose not to notice it, Kira really did had an affect on her.  
  
"If you don't mind Kira, I'm getting jealous, so I'm going to steal Cagalli back from you." Athrun laughed, "How have you been?"  
  
Upon hearing this, Kira loosened his arm's grip around Cagalli and leisurelly turned to face Athrun. His laughing self, turned to acknowledge his childhood friend with an impassive manner, for he didn't know what sentiment he should depict in front of the former ZAFT soldier-- if any at all. So many things to say, but just a strenous look and casual nod from one another is enough, but the burdened tension and static between them still lingered memories of the war, disappointment, and betrayal; even though they had agreed to think of it as matters of the past. There was still...  
  
"... I've been fine." said Kira.  
  
Cagalli, sensing the perceptible uneasiness and greatly detesting the melancholy atmosphere, intertwined her fingers with each one of the boys' in an iron grip, squeezing them and hurting them, hoping to snap them out of their angst, which started to eat away at her patience and very thin line of tolerance.   
  
"Well then, why don't we go back to our seats? Kira, come with us." she beamed.  
  
Before either of them could demur to her, the blonde girl was already eagerly making her way through the animated crowd of people in deep conversations, dragging them both with her.  
  
Vibrant blue eyes watched them, and the owner of those vivid orbs smiled at Kira although he couldn't see her. He was all dressed up in a handsome black tuxedo and his brown hair was slicked back, giving him an aristocratic air. She thought he looked quite charismatic, something she had never witnessed he presented and she doubt he did. She wanted him to turn around and see her, wave at her, smile... anything. Instead, her gaze was discovered by a familiar other. Their eyes were trapped in an unblinking stare for a moment, everything had disappeared, the noise, the background, and the people. Something within her chest twinged, and she broke the intense gaze when she shut her eyes and nodded with a kind smile at that particular person before she looked up and waved with a forced face of delight.  
  
He didn't wave back.  
  
Cagalli turned to look at Athrun and she noticed his far off glance at a certain direction and she curiously followed it and conviently landed on Lacus; someone who she was looking for all evening, and she was sitting at a long table accompanied by council members. The tomboy's face lit up instantly and she shot her hand in the air and waved excitedly, calling out to the singer. The pink-haired girl trembled with giggles when she saw Cagalli and waved back, her lips mouthing 'hello'.  
  
"Lacus is so pretty tonight." Cagalli said, but no one answered to her remark and she whipped around at the spot in puzzlement when she didn't see anyone she recognised around her. Athrun had disappeared from her side. She grumbled angry words under her breath and when she finally found him, and she saw that he was sitting in the most awkward silence with Kira. They weren't talking, they were as emotionless and immobile as statues, and she blasted them both because of their stubborness. A seat separated the two and she figured that the seat was 'specially' reserved for her and she grudgingly scampered there and heavily sat down as another round of roaring applauses came about for another speaker.  
  
"Ladies and gentlemen, of PLANT, of Earth, it is my pleasure to speak to you all today at this grand event on comemorating the lives taken from us due to the unfortunate war." Eileen Canaver, the newly elected chairwoman of ZAFT's supreme council, said into the miniature microphone on the podium that boomed above the noise and hushed all at once. "Many innocent people, allies, and loved ones perished within the time period that we foolishly chose to ignore the preciousness of the lives that is our kin. Each and everyone had been greatly affected by this tragedy, everyone losing a sense of protection and trust with all that surround them. And we can not blame anyone, for we were too blind to see through our power hungry eyes the vulnerability of our kind, how fragile they were to the meaning of war, and how painfully heart breaking the loss of a close one may be. Many apologies and more violence can not bring back someone, so it is best that we mourn together on this sorrowful day."  
  
With that, a masculine voice spoke up, "Please rise for the moment of silence to commemorate the lives lost in the war."  
  
Simultaneously, chairs were being pushed back and people obeyingly stood up, all silent, and all with a grim expression on their faces. They bowed their heads down in respect and commemoration.  
  
Silence. Someone coughed. Silence again.  
  
Kira had this overbearing feeling that tingled in his mind. It was telling him that someone was looking at him and instructed him to lift his head up. He complied, and directly his line of vision connected with Lacus's. He froze and stiffened at the sight of her powerful gaze observing him with intensity, which made his desire to leave even more stronger and he tried hard not to make any fidgety movements, but the navy blue-haired young man standing a seat away from him detected it and tilted his head to the side a bit and spied on the shaky boy.  
  
"Kira..." Someone called him, he immediately thought it was Lacus but her lips never parted... but he could have sworn he heard her voice say it in the dead silence. Or maybe that was his imagination... or maybe...  
  
A flash of pink-red hair appeared in the corner of his eyes and he adverted his gaze to where he saw it. His heart was strangely pumping blood quicker through his veins, the sense of adrenaline arousing. Cagalli now noticed his increased pace in breathing and opened one eye too look at her brother only to see his face was turning two shades paler.  
  
It was a figment of his imagination... he kept on reassuring himself that, and slowly, with a horrified face, he diverted his attention back to Lacus. But she was gone. Again.  
  
"You may sit down." The speaker boomed and everyone gradually took their seats as Eileen Canaver prepared for another speech.  
  
"Kira are you okay?" Cagalli queried, patting his shoulder, clearly concerned about his distress while she seated herself.   
  
He shook his head and looked up to see Athrun with an impassive facade watching him before shifting uncomfortably. "I... I need to go." He mumbled, "Excuse me." And with that, he quickly made his way towards the exit. Cagalli, who was now very worried, was about to chase after him when a hand abruptly grabbed her wrist and unpleasantly forced her down to her seat.  
  
"Let him be." Athrun whispered.  
  
"But he's-"  
  
"Cagalli."  
  
"No!" She tried to twist her wrist out of his grasp but his hold was firm and unbreakable, "Something's wrong and I want to know!"  
  
"He's not going to tell you." Athrun sternly said while trying to keep the struggling girl down, "Trust me, just let him be."  
  
Cagalli looked at Athrun's serious face with her confused and helpless one. Her twin was in obvious pain and she wanted to help him but strangely, his best friend was preventing her from doing so, which is so unlike him. And... wouldn't Athrun be the first one to go after Kira in this type of situation? So if he isn't, then...  
  
She slowly slumped back into her seat, feeling defeated. She hated the feeling.
> 
> * * *
> 
> Outside, Kira was breathing heavy shallow breaths into the cold air while hugging a street light for support in order to stay on his feet- his legs were bullheadedly refusing to provide that. He saw his white breath float like steam from his mouth, and it mingle into the fog so thick he could barely see anything and couldn't even distinct sillouetted shapes from others. He didn't even know what his limbs were trembling from; the icy cold, or...  
  
His ears twitched, he heard light footsteps. _"Kira."_ There it is again! That voice... it's... no, no it can't be. It's his mind playing cruel tricks on him.  
  
"Kira." Someone called him from behind, gradually approaching him with caution. He didn't move, it was as if the cold air finally freezed him and paralyzed his body. "Kira." the feminine voice said again. He was frustrated and inwardly swore at himself for not being able to distinguish who the voice belonged to, his brain was playing mind games and only drawing a blank useless image. And the only person that he thought of at the moment was...  
  
An ever so light touch tapped his shoulder. "Kira?"  
  
"Flay!" He cried, he had jumped and turned around and without a thought he blindly grabbed the person's shoulder, and when his vision cleared and the haze disintegrated around him, he was confronted by a seemingly startled Lacus, her eyes were wide with surprise.  
  
The brown-haired boy exhaled a thankful sigh of relief. He clutched her shoulders tighter and leaned in to rest his forehead in between the crook of her neck. Though she did not object, she was too bewildered and speechless to say anything, nonetheless question him about his most peculiar behaviour. And so, that freely gave way to the unwanted tension to hang and linger around them carrying an uneasy atmosphere.   
  
It was most awkward for her.   
  
Kira was absentminded, his energy was almost entirely drained from him and he wavered in his spot. The darkness was trying to soothe him to sleep again.  
  
Lacus bit her lip and distanced herself from him. "... I'm sorry... I'm not Flay Alster." Lacus softly said with a hint of sadness in her voice. Kira blinked in surprise as if finally comprehending what he had just said a moment ago. He had called her...  
  
"Oh Lacus, I'm sorry, I..." his sentence drifted off into nothing. His emotions had proven to be most turbulent and perplexing, feeding off his wearisome soul maliciously by each passing day. And in order for him to finally bid farewell, he had to give back something that could have been the most preciously treasured item he posessed from someone he could have loved. And he didn't want to keep it anymore, because it had always been his saviour in the darkest of his hours, and it had always shined when he truly wanted to surrender to the darkness... to where the one that plagued his mind resided.  
  
Burdening silence seemed to love loitering around them as a hobby, since it had the courage to resurface once more and it loomed over them creating a stringent ambiance.   
  
"Maybe we should go back inside?" Lacus suggested. The cold was gradually numbing away her arms and she rubbed them in an attempt to stay warm. She started to move in the direction back to the ceremony when Kira grabbed a hold of her once more. He wasn't going to let her get away again, not until he returned it to her.  
  
"N-no Lacus... I'm not going back."  
  
The rosy haired girl gave him an incredulous look. "How come? Is something wrong Kira?" She touched his arms and he moved away as if contact with her burned him. She looked hurt.  
  
"Yes... I mean, no... I..." He was having an awfully hard time trying to speak to her, which he felt was very baffling. He casted his eyes down and made her curious self imitate his moves, and she saw that he was fishing around in the pocket of his black tuxedo for something that was intended for her. He reached out and gently lifted her hands towards him and she winced at the unexpected clammy coldness of his fingers. Like a sacred ritual, gently and carefully he placed a tiny object in her palm and curled her fingers over it. "here."  
  
Lacus blinked at the young man before her, and then unfolded her fingers to see the object flash a dull shine under the hazy street light. As if being slapped in the face, Lacus instantly recognised it. Her heart leapt to her throat and she almost choked herself in order to force down the incomming strangled cry. The act was truly callous. It was her silver ring. "What? But it's yours."  
  
"No," Kira said, shaking his head, he swallowed and sighed, "It's not mine if I refuse to keep it."  
  
"Why not?" she asked, her voice vacillating. He was avoiding eye contact with her.  
  
"Because... -"  
  
A crackling gunshot disrupted him. A shrill scream followed. 
> 
> * * *
> 
> Athrun felt Cagalli clench his hand tightly and her face had a horrified expression on it.   
  
He was quickly rewinding and going through the event that had just happened. This of all places, this of all events... for this inhuman thing to happen...  
  
The lights had flickered off while an ambassador of the EA was in the middle of his speech, and silently, invisibly flew a streaking bullet at the middle-aged man. He had jerked back so suddenly his expression was filled with raw pain, and his white shirt underneath his velvet tuxedo was seeping crimson blood into the fabric and quickly spreading like a wild fire. The lights turned on again just in time for the people to see him with his hand over his deadly wound. He gave the audience a wide-eyed, stunned look; time seemed to be frozen for three seconds, as the EA ambassador expelled his last breath and fell against the podium.   
  
The lady behind him screamed a terrified, defeaning shriek, which created the domino effect resulting in many more. EA representatives were rushed at and crowded by security guards to be escorted out of the building quickly. Eileen Canaver was composed and did not say anything. She just had a troubled and aggravated look on her face and rubbed her temples while the other woman beside her, Ezalia Jule, shouted out orders to find the culprit of the henious crime.  
  
"Athrun..." Cagalli wanted to say something but she was hushed by the young man currently dragging her down a hallway, evacuating the premises with other politicians.  
  
"Athrun, tell me this isn't happening..." 
> 
> * * *
> 
> **Author's notes:** And so begins the plot of the story I have planned for. Yay. This story will contain a lot of character drama centric on the 4 main characters. Bahaha. I love angst. Please read and review now! =]


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